Preview: U-20 USWNT Begins World Cup Qualifying Knockout Stage vs. St. Lucia

February 28, 2020

U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team vs. St. Lucia
2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship - Round of 16
Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

4 p.m. ET (Concacaf Go, Concacaf Facebook, Concacaf YouTube & TUDN)
Feb. 29, 2020

KNOCKOUT ROUND BEGINS FOR U-20 USWNT: Following a dominant showing in Group C play at the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship, the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team now heads into the Round of 16 where it will face St. Lucia on Feb. 29 (3 p.m. ET) at Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez, site of the USA’s first three games. The USA rolled through the group stage with nine points from its three matches, scoring 24 goals without conceding any, and capped the group with an 11-goal outburst vs. Honduras on Wednesday. In a quirk of this qualifying format, this will be the first match of the tournament for St. Lucia, which reached the Round of 16 as one of four teams to advance directly to the knockout round via a per-qualifying tournament.

Saturday’s match will be broadcast live on Concacaf Go, Concacaf Facebook, Concacaf YouTube and TUDN. Follow the U-20 WNT throughout the tournament on ussoccer.com, Twitter and Instagram.

WATCH U-20 WNT QUALIFYING: Concacaf will broadcast all matches of the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship on Concacaf Go, as well as its Facebook and YouTube. Additionally, all matches will be available on TUDNxtra.

USA vs. ST. LUCIA:

The USA has never faced St. Lucia in any competition.
St. Lucia advanced directly to the Round of 16 after finishing second in pre-qualifying Group A in July.
The St. Lucia roster features three players born in 2000, three born in 2001, four born in 2002, five born in 2003, two born in 2004 and one born in 2005.
All 18 players on the St. Lucia roster are based domestically on the island, with the most, five, coming from Challengers FC.
A pair of twins represent St. Lucia in the defense, Steffany and Tiffany Allain, both playing for Black Panthers.

USA EMPHATICALLY ENDS GROUP STAGE: After two dominant victories in its first two group stage games, the USA finished Group C with a bang as it took down Honduras, 11-0. Forward Trinity Rodman netted a first half hat trick before adding a fourth in the second half to tie the U-20 record for goals in a game, a feat also matched by forward Mia Fishel in the USA’s opener vs. Cuba. Midfielder Summer Yates added a pair of goals, while Katelyn Duong and Shae Holmes nabbed their first U-20 WNT goals as well. Julia Dohle recorded her second straight shutout in the net but was not troubled during the match. The USA’s 24 goals scored in its first three games were the most of any team in the tournament, while just the U.S. and Haiti allowed zero goals during the group stage.

FINAL GROUP C STANDINGS:

2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship FINAL Group C Standings
Team	GP	W	L	D	Pts.	GF	GA	GD
USA	3	3	0	0	9	24	0	+24
Dom. Rep.	3	1	1	1	4	7	4	+3
Cuba	3	1	1	1	4	6	10	-4
Honduras	3	0	3	0	0	1	24	-23

FINAL GROUP C RESULTS:

Feb. 22
USA 9, Cuba 0
Dom. Rep. 7, Honduras 0

Feb. 24
USA 4, Dom. Rep. 0 Cuba 6, Honduras 1

Feb. 26
USA 11, Honduras 0
Cuba 0, Dom. Rep. 0

ST. LUCIA’S ROAD TO ROUND OF 16: St. Lucia advanced to the Round of 16 directly from the pre-qualifying tournament as the runner-up finisher in Group A. The bottom 10 ranked teams (of the teams that entered the tournament) in the Concacaf Women’s U-20 rankings played a pre-qualifying competition in July in Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis for four berths into the tournament proper knockout stage.

Seeded in the bottom pot for the tournament, Saint Lucia went 3-1-0 to reach the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship. The island nation topped Suriname in a 4-3 goal fest, edged Bermuda 2-1 and bested Antigua and Barbuda 3-1 before falling to host Guyana 2-0. Midfielder Tanika Bernard netted a hat trick in St. Lucia’s pre-qualifying opener.

2020 CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER BY POSITION (COLLEGE OR CLUB; HOMETOWN; U-20 CAPS/GOALS)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Claudia Dickey (UNC; Charlotte, N.C.; 1/0), 12-Julia Dohle (Penn State; Scarsdale, N.Y.; 8/0)

DEFENDERS (7): 14-Maycee Bell (UNC; Wichita, Kan.; 6/1), 4-Sierra Enge (Stanford; Cardiff, Calif.; 2/0), 5-Naomi Girma (Stanford; San Jose, Calif.; 27/0), 13-Shae Holmes (Washington; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; 4/1), 2-Brianna Martinez (Notre Dame; Albuquerque, N.M.; 6/0), 3-Emily Mason (PDA; Flemington, N.J.; 4/0), 15-Kennedy Wesley (Stanford; Rossmoor, Calif.; 2/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 20-Talia DellaPeruta (Köln/GER; Cumming, Ga.; 7/0), 18-Katelyn Duong (Minnesota; Portland, Ore.; 6/1), 10-Jenna Nighswonger (Florida State; Huntington Beach, Calif.; 6/1), 6-Brianna Pinto (UNC; Durham, N.C.; 34/7), 17-Alexa Spaanstra (Virginia; Brighton, Mich.; 16/3), 7-Summer Yates (Washington; Pasco, Wash.; 7/5)

FORWARDS (5): 9-Mia Fishel (UCLA; San Diego, Calif.; 2/6), 16-Rebecca Jarrett (Virginia; Clifton, N.J.; 7/1), 19-Samantha Meza (Solar Soccer Club; Dallas, Texas; 10/2), 8-Trinity Rodman (SoCal Blues SC; Newport Beach, Calif.; 4/5), 11-Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; 27/23)

ST. LUCIA ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB):

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Renala Francis (Challengers FC), 4-Xena Frederick (Anse La Raye), 16-Kenna Lionel (Victory Eagles SC)

DEFENDERS (5): 6-Shakera Classe (Uptown Rebels SC), 5-Racquel John (Challengers FC), 3-Ketina Joseph (Northern United All Stars), 8-Janell Mathurin (Challengers FC), 11-Britanya St. Prix (Vieux-Fort South)

MIDFIELDERS (7): 14-Steffany Allain (Challengers FC), 15-Tiffany Allain (Black Panthers), 10-Tanika Bernard (Challengers FC), 17-Giana Hilton (Victory Eagles SC), 18-Geean Henry (Black Panthers), 9-Ilana Lashley (Victory Eagles SC), 13-Cassandra Shepherd (Black Panthers)

FORWARDS (3): 2-Shaqelle Charlery (Northern United All Stars), 12-Arnicka Louis (Big Players FC), 7-Krysan St. Louis (Victory Eagles SC)

ABOUT THE U-20 WNT: Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2000 are eligible for the 2020 U-20 Women’s World Cup and head coach Laura Harvey named players from three birth years: 12 players born in 2000, five born in 2001 and three born in 2002. The roster features two of the last three U.S. Soccer Young Female Players of the Year in forward Sophia Smith (2017) and midfielder Brianna Pinto (2019).

The timing of the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship at the start of the year after the college season made the player selection process less difficult. Fifteen of the 20 players on the roster are currently in college while three are playing for youth clubs. Smith is the sole professional on the roster after she was drafted by the Portland Thorns last month, becoming the first teenager to be taken No. 1 overall in the NWSL College Draft. Midfielder Talia DellaPeruta is currently playing as an amateur in Germany with Frauen-Bundesliga club FC Koln.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: This year brings the 10th edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship. The tournament began in 2002 as the CONCACAF Women’s U-19 Championship.

In this new format, the tournament field features 20 teams. Sixteen were drawn into four groups of four, while four advanced directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament. The top three finishers in each group qualified to the Round of 16. From here on, it’s a knockout bracket to the tournament final. The two winners of the semifinal matches will qualify to the 2020 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

This year’s Women’s U-20 Championship will only send two teams to the U-20 Women’s World Cup, rather than the usual three, due to the World Cup being played in the Concacaf region and hosts Costa Rica and Panama both receiving automatic bids.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Nine players have scored for the USA at the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship: Mia Fishel (6), Trinity Rodman (4), Brianna Pinto (3), Summer Yates (3), Katelyn Duong, Shae Holmes, Rebecca Jarrett and Samantha Meza.
Eleven players have recorded at least one assist for the USA in this tournament: Rodman (4), Alexa Spaanstra (3), Jarrett (2), Naomi Girma (2), Duong (2), Maycee Bell, Holmes,Brianna, Martinez, Pinto, Kennedy Wesley and Yates.
The USA has recorded shutouts in its first three games at this tournament for the first time since the 2014 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship.
The USA’s 11 goals scored against Honduras were its fifth-most ever in a Conacaf qualifying game at this age level. The U.S. scored 15, 14 and 12 during matches in 2002 and 14 in 2004 as U-19s.